I

Beeswax, refined. .. 4 parts

Alcohol........... 5 parts

Castile soap, finely grated.......... 10 parts

Petroleum......... 5 parts

Put the petroleum into a suitable vessel along with the wax and alcohol and cautiously heat on the water bath, with an occasional agitation, until complete solution is effected. Add the soap and continue the heat until it is dissolved. When this occurs remove from >the bath and stir until the soap begins to set, then pour into molds.

II

The hydrocarbons (as petroleum, vaseline, etc.) are boiled with a sufficient quantity of alkali to form a soap, during which process they absorb oxygen and unite with the alkali to form fatty acid salts. The resulting soap is dissolved in water containing alkali, and the solution is heated along with alkali and salt. The mass of soap separates out in three layers, the central one being the purest; and from this product the fatty acids may be recovered by treatment with sulphuric acid.